Bonds That Are Stronger Than Metal
by gschmitt
Summary: He first met her at a stingy bar he stumbled into. He expected to be stared at, but he definitely did not expect some short (well, shorter than himself—which is pretty short) girl who was previously occupied with the gunk in-between her toes to assume he'd stoop so low and play dirty, and then threaten to break his automail. As if she could, anyway.
1. Chapter 1

**BONDS THAT ARE STRONGER THAN METAL**

 **RATING:** T  
 **PAIRING:** Edward Elric/Toph Beifong  
 **GENRE:** Romance/Friendship, Adventure, Mystery, Drama.  
 **EXTRA TAGS:** Slow Build, Friends to Lovers, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence  
 **NOTES:** Inspired by fanart made by the wonderful **©tissine** on deviantart. I have received permission to use their fanart as the cover.

* * *

For a guy who took every chance he could get to brag about himself, Edward Elric sure did loathe being stared at. It was mostly because of past experiences; people would stare at him because there was no way _he_ was _the_ Fullmetal Alchemist. There was no way somebody that miniscule could ever be held to such a high regard. Well, they were wrong, of course. _But still._ It pissed him off.

He knew he wasn't being stared at for his height, though. It was his hair. It took some getting used to at the start, but by now he was used to it. It was just rare in a place like this for somebody to have blonde hair.

 _But hey,_ he's technically the strongest and the handsomest blonde person to ever live in wherever this place is, obviously. And nobody can refute that fact, either—Edward wouldn't ever give them the chance to.

If he's ever questioned about his…peculiar hair colour, he says that some strange waterbender wanted to practice a technique on his hair—and they were going for black, mind you—but it turned into _this_ and it just stuck. Nobody had to be convinced that Edward was too lazy to try and change it back.

Hopefully, the staring would subside once Edward set foot in his absolute favourite place to kick back and lift his leg up. _The Jasmine Dragon_. Not only was the old man who owned the shop nice enough to let him sit inappropriately, he was nice enough to not ask him about his weird hair, or short stature…or _weird_ choice of clothing. (Edward has a fantastic sense of fashion, by the way. It's just the people around here don't. He's toned it down a bit, but he still gets some comments.)

The staring didn't subside though. Of course. Even the regular customers still glanced in his direction. Edward started to think that maybe he really should just ask some strange waterbender to change his hair colour, if that would even be possible—because it's been _two years_ already, and he's kind of annoyed.

Making his way to the left corner of the shop, he plops himself down on what he refers to as _his chair_. With outstretched limbs and a hand running through his hair out of frustration, he waits for the old man to come greet him like he always did.

And he did.

"I think you may have some admirers," the old man said, glancing to the table at the front where four young women sat; eyes all focused on Edward. _Silly old man._ They're not staring because they think Edward's a catch—well, there definitely have been women who have stared at him because of that! But no, not these ones. It's the hair, _again_. Or maybe, _just maybe,_ it's because they think Edward is…unattractive? _Nah._ Definitely not. That's just unrealistic.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm used to it," Edward moved his hand dismissively. "And besides, when was the last time a young guy like _me_ came into this place?"

The old man laughed at his sarcasm (even though it wasn't completely sarcasm), and to onlookers it would seem like they were like old friends who would meet regularly and banter together. Maybe even a grandfather and his grandchild catching up. That's what their relationship really felt like, at least to Edward. He wondered if the old man thought that way about their friendship, too.

"The same thing as always?" The man questioned, even though he knew the answer. As he was walking away from the table, he stopped and slightly turned his head towards Edward, "She didn't stop by today. I hope you didn't scare her off. She is one of my most loyal customers, and a dear friend."

 _Oh._ That tone. So the old man wants Edward to cut her some slack? Well, damn. That is going to be a struggle, especially since she is a grade-A brat. Just thinking about her and her stupid _I-don't-need-eyes-to-_ ** _really_** _-see,_ and her ridiculous _oh-I'll-just-put-my-dirty-feet-on-your-chair_ ways made Edward want to pull his hair out. He can just imagine Al scolding the two of them for bickering so much even though she _always_ started it!

Edward was glad she didn't stop by today, though. It would save him from a headache, and the inevitable rush of competitiveness and defensiveness he felt surging through his veins whenever she was in one hundred feet of him. _If only he had his damn alchemy._

* * *

" _Hey! Why don't we let this little runt have a go?"_

 _Did he just say—_

" _Yeah, he thinks he's all tough. Maybe he ought to pick on somebody his own size."_

 _What? His own size? Well, sure, Edward would have no problem with that. He's…not of average stature, so it would be a piece of cake to take somebody his own size._

 _He followed the two large men with patchy beards who were clearly intoxicated and looking for a fight to whoever they were taking him to. This was seriously a waste of his time. Curse his short temper. All he was planning to do was knock some sense into these two drunkards because they were knocking him around and comparing him to some sort of animal that's native to this place; most likely a very small animal, of course. But no, nothing ever goes to plan for Edward Elric._

 _The universe is most definitely against him, and he believed that whole-heartedly, and that belief did not waver when he met_ ** _her_** _, it only grew stronger._

 _They finally brought him to the person he was…supposed to be scared of? It's just a short girl. Around his age, he assumed. And she was picking out the gunk between her toes—and for the life of him he couldn't understand why she was barefoot—and just flicking it in any direction she pleased. It was disgusting. And it pissed him off. Who did she think she was?_

" _Well, you found somebody else who dares challenge me?" the girl, no—the brat—said, finally resting her feet on the ground._

 _He was ready to say something back, something like, "there's no way in hell that I'm going anywhere near your dirty hands", but he stopped as soon as he looked into her eyes. They were…she was blind. They want him to fight a blind girl? Edward may have a short temper, and he may be rude to some (he has no idea why anyone finds him rude, though) but he fights fair. Always._

 _Not bothering to entertain the crowd any longer, he turned to leave without saying anything. Until she spoke up, again._

" _Gosh, don't tell me you're walkin' away! You're really that afraid of a little girl? I guess you really are just a pipsqueak…"_

 _A pipsqueak? That's it. Edward may have a short temper, and he may be rude to some, and he mostly fights fair. But not always. And today would be one of those days where he wouldn't fight fair._

 _Edward quickly made his way to the table she was sitting at, and slid into the chair, directly across from her. He was prepared to teach this little brat a lesson, and he couldn't wait to see the look on her face once she lost to a 'pipsqueak'. He'd heard about her before, too. He knew she must have been the one who had been winning against all these self-proclaimed strong men and tossing them out of bars. She'd become infamous around here, and just because of arm wrestling (and a bit more than arm wrestling, too, if things got out of hand)._

 _And at first, he wondered why she had grown so infamous, anyway. Yeah, so what, she's strong. There are plenty of strong people around. But now he understood why. She was young, tiny, and_ _ **blind.**_ _Everyone underestimated her; they all crossed her off as weak. So of course, when she'd prove them wrong, there would be talk. It made sense._

 _But Edward was about to destroy her little rise to fame in a second. Nobody calls him pipsqueak and gets away with it, especially if they're basically just as short and young as him!_

 _Lifting his arm up in the correct position, he grabbed her hand arrogantly; getting ready. He was waiting for somebody to start the countdown, but before he could yell at all the idiots to hurry up already, he was pulled towards the girl suddenly, and he tensed as she leaned towards his ear._

" _If you try anything shady, metal boy, I'll bend that arm of yours—and your leg."_

 ** _Yes,_** _the universe was definitely against Edward Elric. He had known that ever since the day he came to this place…whatever this place was…and he was confirmed of his growing suspicions the day he met Toph Beifong._

* * *

He knew she'd be here.

In the sixth months it's taken him to know Toph, a good month was spent here. It was where he found her, weeks after she had beaten him (unfairly, he'll add) at arm wrestling at that bar; reclaiming her status as the _'strongest earthebender in the entire world'_. He wanted to sneak up on her, and catch her when her guard was down, and prove to her that he was stronger than he seemed—and that he wouldn't ever be played by a little girl again! He also wanted to ask how she knew about his automail, since he had done a good job covering it up for almost two years.

But she answered his question before she could ask him, saying she may be blind, but that doesn't mean she can't _really_ see. Whatever that meant. After she we explained further, he was stunned into silence. There was no way he was going to fuel her ego and say out loud that _yeah,_ she really is the strongest earthbender in the entire world.

He took a seat next to her on the grass, lying on his back. She had no shoes on, of course, and she was pulling out the grass with her toes; trying to feel the most she could of the earth beneath her.

"So, why didn't you show up today?" Edward asked her, eyes still glued on the night sky above. He had a feeling he knew the reason why she didn't show up, and it wasn't because he scared her off, or because a round of Pai Sho between her and the old man was long overdue.

"Ah, same old," Toph said, still busy playing with the grass beneath her. "My parents tried to contact me again. I had nobody to read the letter to me, though. I…I don't know if I want to read it, to be honest."

 _Well hey, I'm here, I'll read it to ya!_ Was what Edward would have liked to say. But he didn't. He isn't good with words, especially kind ones—unless he's in a serious situation, which he'd rather not be in. He knew that Toph knew that, though. She was the same way, after all. And she didn't mind that he had nothing to say; or couldn't say anything. She just wanted someone to listen to her.

She may be a brat, an even bigger one than himself, but she's his friend—he thinks, _he hopes_ —and he'll just shut up and listen, because that's what friends do.

But the silence was deafening, and he was never good with silence. He knew Toph wasn't either. "That old man thinks I've scared you off again," he speaks up.

"Who? Iroh? _Nah,_ " she scoffs, shaking her head. "He's just kidding. He knows it takes a lot more to scare me."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"


	2. Chapter 2

" _Oh, no. Al! Alphonse!" Edward screamed, running to what was left of Alphonse's armour. But no matter how many times he called out his younger brother's name, there was no answer. For the first time in his life, Edward had felt hopeless—that no matter how many books he'd end up reading, or how many nights he'd resist the growing desire to fall asleep because he was so deep in thought, he would never figure out what he had to do to make it all right._

 _But as he was on the verge of breaking down, he realised there was something he could do. And it would work. But it wouldn't be what he truly wanted._

 _What he wanted above all else was for Al to get his body back, and for him to be with his younger brother as he grew up. But he knew that if he did this; that wouldn't be possible. Alphonse would have his body, but Edward wouldn't be there to see it. Could he go through with it?_

 _Of course he could. And he was going to._ ** _He had to._**

 _This was his fault, after all. He wouldn't ever say that out loud, though, because he knew Al absolutely loathed that thought. But to Edward, that was the truth. It_ _ **was**_ _his fault. And he will fix what he broke—the universe could take his other arm, his other leg, and even his entire body._

 _Falling to his knees, he began to trace a human transmutation circle around the broken pieces of Alphonse's armour with his own blood that was leaking from the wounds on his body._

" _Here! Take it. Take it all!" Edward shouted as loud as he could, seemingly talking to thin air, though the things around him knew what he was talking to. "You can take my arm, my leg—you can take everything from me. But you_ ** _won't_** _take my brother."_

 _From the corner of his eye, he could see two feet on the opposite side of the transmutation circle. It was one of them. One of those…things. Homunculi. And from the lack of shoes, Edward could tell exactly who it was; Envy. That evil, conniving, son of a—_

" _Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Envy raised his voice. Edward didn't need to answer though, because all it took was a look into his now desperate eyes to know what he was planning. Envy's face suddenly paled upon the realisation that yes, Edward was going to do_ ** _it_** _…again. But that wasn't the plan, and Envy was quite frankly fucking tired of all this playing around. He would not let the pipsqueak screw this up one more time._

" _He's all I have. He's my little brother! Give him back to me, and take me instead. I don't care what you have to do, just give him back!" Edward yelled, voice cracking and tears running down his cheeks. Before he could stop himself, and before Envy could run up to him and knock him on his face, his hands touched without a second thought. Oh no. This was bad._ ** _Really bad._**

 _Envy had stopped running towards him and stood in the middle of the bloody transmutation circle—eyes wide in horror pointed in Edward's direction. "Are you crazy, pipsqueak? What the hell are you trying to…"_

 _The Homunculi's voice trailed off, and now all that Edward could see was nothing. Absolutely nothing, except for Envy._

 _And for a split second he thought this might have been an illusion; or his mind playing tricks on him, but he should have known better. Envy could see him, too, and he was storming towards him with fists clenched and ready. But he didn't make it to Edward in time._

 _The hands…the endless hands, devoid of any colour, began clawing at their bodies…grabbing onto them with all their strength and pulling them towards_ ** _it._** _The gate. Edward had seen this before—he had lived through it before, but he still felt the same fear at the tips of his toes and the ends of his fingers like he did the last time. If there were another way, he would have never gone back to this place. This was the place of his recurring nightmares. But there was no turning back now, no time for regrets, and no time to be afraid._

 _He turned his head, trying to get a look at Envy one last time. But it was not Envy he saw—at least, not the Envy he knew of._

* * *

He felt her eyes glued on him the entire time he was reading over the letter. He knew she wasn't oblivious to his twitching hands and racing heartbeat. Yeah, she was blind, but god, she knew how to make somebody uncomfortable with just one look. And Edward was being pushed over the limit.

Sighing, he placed the letter down on the coffee table (that Toph carved out herself—she wouldn't stop bragging about her natural skills in interior design for weeks), and lifted his head to finally look directly at her.

"Well, what do you want me to say?" He asked, tone nonchalant and slightly bored.

"What do you think?" She retorted, her face contorting to an expression of distaste. "I want you to read it to me, _duh!_ Some kind of genius you are…"

 _Oh,_ that's what she meant. Well, of course. He didn't know if he really could read it to her, though. It seemed…like it would hurt her feelings. Toph was exactly what her name sounded like, but her parents were something she didn't really talk about—something she shared in common with Edward himself—other than brief details she shared from time to time. He had a strong feeling that this was a soft spot.

Not only that, but the letter was surprisingly short. He'd expected her parents to write pages and pages, at least that's what his mother would have done, so he had to refrain from giving out any obvious signs of shock and confusion that Toph could sense; and he purposely reread the letter more than five times so it would seem as if her parents had actually written her more than a sentence. He felt as if Toph already knew what was in the letter, though.

"It basically says they want to see you again," Edward said, and she groaned in response. She wanted him to read the whole thing out loud to him. _Damn._ "It, uh, it says…" he cleared his throat, and tried his best to put on a fancy voice—since he knew she came from a family of high status and impressive wealth—to lighten the heightening tension, " _To our only child, Toph. We would be delighted to see you again. Please come back home and be with your parents._ "

And for once, Edward had actually made somebody else laugh intentionally. It wasn't a laugh, more like a soft chuckle. There were hints of sadness making their way through what he assumed was mostly feigned happiness, but he didn't want to question it, or tell her he noticed. At least he brightened the mood a little bit.

She leaned back and rested her arms behind her head; all previous emotions replaced with something more detached and blasé. "That's all it said, huh?"

Edward nodded. So his suspicions were correct; she wasn't expecting pages and pages of heartfelt emotions. She knew what she was in for. In all honesty, he was a bit taken off guard. He definitely did not expect Toph's parents to be this way. He expected they'd be…more like her. Loud, boisterous, _in-your-face_ , and most of all, genuine and kindhearted behind that very had to get past arrogant exterior.

"I haven't spoken to my parents in a very long time, too," Edward said, eyes widening for a second as soon as it slipped past his mouth, as he was a bit taken aback by his own openness. But it seemed to comfort her, at least, and now there was yet another thing he could cross off on his imaginary list of _Things I Have In Common With Toph Beifong_.

"Really? Did they keep you locked inside your own home for years, too?" She joked. Well, _tried._ It was a lot darker than she had intended it to sound; although it was completely true. She felt Edward tense up, evidently uncomfortable with what she had said, and before she could try and awkwardly laugh at herself and pass it off as _just a joke_ , he interrupted her.

"Yeah. My dad left us one day, and a couple years after my ma died, he suddenly came back. And then I found out I had a half-brother."

There's another thing Edward can cross off on his imaginary _Things I Have In Common With Toph Beifong_ list: the ability to bond over, and make light of, things that are the absolute worst. It may not be the healthiest thing in the world, and it definitely isn't as good as actually sitting down and talking about it, but it works for the both of them.

* * *

 _Blood. There was lots and lots of blood. Edward could practically taste it, and it was all he could smell. Blood, and…tea?_

 _Why could he smell tea? Wasn't he just at—_

" _Ah, I see you're finally awake." And now he could hear some old man talking to him. Edward must have hit his head pretty hard, or he must be going insane, or The Truth must have taken that part of his brain that gathers information and—The Truth. The gate. He was there, with Envy. He was being grabbed at, and ripped apart, and the last thing he remembered was the feeling of his entire soul being held in the hands of something—someone?—with so much power and influence and energy, and then the feeling just disappeared. It was as if all the weight of the world had vanished, and it was as if he was weightless. And then he woke up._

" _You still appear to be a bit drowsy. Here, have some tea."_

 _Edward turned towards the sound of the voice, and he was greeted by an old man, who had just heated the mug in his hands…_ ** _with his hands_** _ **.** He saw the steam coming out from his palms, and the water in the mug boiled. Alright, he was definitely imagining things. Insanity was what this must be called. _

" _What—who are you? Where am I?" Edward asked, voice still thick with sleep. Instead of answering, the old man just shook his head and laughed, placing the tea next to Edward's palm resting on the ground. Looking around, he realised he had no idea where he was, or what this place even was. This was definitely not Amestris. Was he in…Drachma? If he was, then where was all the snow? Or was that just an Amestrian stereotype? Was it Creta, then, or Aerugo? Xing, maybe…_

 _How the hell was he taken this far out of Amestris without even waking up once?_

" _My name is Iroh. You seem a little young to be traveling all by yourself, and with wounds that severe…" the man named Iroh said, eyes glancing down at Edward's torso—which was now perfectly cleaned and bandaged._

 _Iroh…what a strange name…_

 _As he was lifting himself up, he heard a familiar clink coming from his right side. His automail. He still had his automail arm. And as his hands quickly went to grab his left knee out of instinct, he realised he still had his automail leg, too. A painful feeling surged through his entire body, and he felt like he couldn't move. As the realisation dawned upon him, he couldn't help but feel like the tiniest thing in the world—the tiniest, most insignificant thing to ever exist._

 _It didn't work. The transmutation didn't work. His automail is still there, and his limbs are still intact. His body is still intact, not a scratch in sight, except for the wound that was inflicted before he tried the transmutation. It made no sense. He offered his own body up for Al's life, and he was still here._ ** _Why?_**

 _It was wrong. It was all wrong. And it was unfair. It should have worked._

 _The old man broke his train of thought as he cleared his throat. He was still occupied with his own tea in his hands. "Yes, you are quite an interesting young man, aren't you?" The corners of his mouth turned upward in a friendly gesture. "I have never seen something like that before. Did a metalbender make those for you? It must have been one highly skilled metalbender—after all, I only know of one person who can bend metal."_

… _Metalbender? What now?_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** If you didn't realise already, this fits under the 'Canon Divergence' category - and I'm mainly going to be following the events of the original Fullmetal Alchemist series, not Brotherhood. Some things will be mixed together, though, because good ol' _Canon Divergence_ , and most things won't be left unanswered because I **hate** plotholes. I'm also not going to follow the events of the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics, because, again, good ol' _Canon Divergence_.


	3. Chapter 3

_"_ _And what do we have here?"_

 _Oh, for the love of God. Edward did not have the time to answer that question—even though he knew it was entirely hypothetical—and he certainly did not have the time to humour Toph in whatever game she was trying to play this time._

 _It didn't take him long to realise that Toph was very interested in his automail (but of course, that was expected…there was nothing else quite like it in this world), and that she definitely did not believe him when he said some earthbender made it for him, because according to her, she was the only earthbender great enough to be able to bend metal (and she was right, unfortunately for his sake, but he's not going to try and make up something else now)._

 _"_ _Geez, are you stalking me, or what?" Edward scoffed, trying to focus his attention on the book in his hands instead of the extremely hard to ignore presence in front of him. "You know, I'm kinda getting sick and tired of seeing your big head everywhere."_

 _"_ _You wish, Fancy Pants! It's kind of hard to miss a guy with a metal arm and a leg."_

 ** _"_** ** _Really?"_** _he asked, not the least bit convinced. "And what would a blind girl be doing in a library?" Ha, he got her there—she had the exact same look Al had on his face whenever he was caught trying to take in another animal. He had a couple ideas as to why Toph was so interested in his automail. The biggest one, and most logical, was that she wanted to bend it (or if she was angry enough, just straight up rip it out of its sockets) and sell it…to the black market, or whatever the equivalent was here. Alright, maybe not the most logical, but there was a big chance that was one of the reasons._

 _The second reason was that Toph just really enjoyed messing with him, and getting a rise out of him. That, or she knows something is up, and if Edward's 'freaky' blonde hair (her words, not his—he always asks how she finds it freaky since she doesn't even know what 'blonde' looks like) wasn't evidence enough that he was abnormal, at least in this place—the fact that this tiny blonde guy had two functioning metal limbs was definitely the icing on the cake._

 _"_ _Whatever. I guess that job offer can just go to someone else."_

 _He perked up at that, and now she had his full attention. It was blatantly obvious that Edward was…living a more simplistic lifestyle. He just hated that she noticed it. She definitely must have been sneaking around and spying on him, or something, and it would be really easy to do so as she doesn't need her damn eyes and can see through the earth like some sort of freak of nature (his words, not hers—she'd love to hear him call her that, though, she'd take it as a compliment)._

 _"_ _A job offer?" Edward asked, his demeanor suddenly changing from indifferent to something more gregarious, and almost approachable. He was surprised, too. "Well, you must not hate me as much as you put on if you've got me a job offer!" And just as he was starting to seem somewhat kind-ish to Toph, it all faded away as soon as that arrogant smirk and sarcastic tone made an appearance, once again (no, she can't technically see that he's smirking, but she has a very big feeling that there's almost always one on his face—and she's right)._

 _"_ _Keep dreaming, Metal Boy. You really are just that annoying," she said. "C'mon, do you want that job or not? Don't tell me you actually enjoy scamming drunk men at bars to get silver pieces."_

 _So she_ ** _was_** _spying on him. That sneaky, little brat._

* * *

He thought he had learnt his lesson months ago. _I'm_ ** _never_** _taking up one of Toph's job offers ever again,_ was what he said to himself through gritted teeth while scrubbing off the mud that had dried on his skin in his tiny (even tiny for someone of his size) shower. He thought the smell alone would have convinced him enough to decline Toph's offers, _but it clearly wasn't._

Leaning against the wall, he tapped his foot impatiently while muttering a bunch of curses under his breath. He expected Toph to be back already, but she wasn't. The street food probably distracted her, or she ditched him and decided to just do the 'job' herself. _Typical_. As he was waiting for her in the alleyway, he swore to himself to never agree to go along with her again, because even though this did pay quite a generous amount, it wasn't technically a job. It was scamming—the same thing she criticised him for months ago.

Just as he was about to give in to his frustration and leave, she burst into his line of sight and headed straight towards him—street food in both of her hands. _Typical Toph_. "Well, look who decided to show up!" Edward said, rolling his eyes. Even though he was clearly annoyed, he couldn't help but feel a tiny bit envious of the food she was scoffing down, even though he had no clue what she was eating.

"You want some?" She asked, outstretching her hand, ignoring his curious stance. "These are Pau Buns. I don't know what kind of meat is inside them…but they make 'em the best in the Middle Ring."

He cautiously took one of the Pau Buns from her hand, and after inspecting it for a bit—which was weird, because Edward isn't picky with food at all; but Toph might have poisoned it, or something, who knows—he took a bite, and his eyes widened as his taste buds processed all of the flavours. It was delicious. He hadn't tasted anything like this back in Amestris, and as he quickly finished the bun, he was already missing the taste. He knew that _'you want some?'_ meant _'you can only have one'_ , though, so there was no point in asking for another.

"Next time I'll get some more," Toph chuckled. Yeah, or she could maybe not eat all of it and split it up evenly instead. "Well, anyways, today we're just gonna stick to the Middle Ring. The last time we tried the Upper Ring, we almost got caught, and I can't keep using my _I'm-friends-with-the-Avatar_ card to get out of trouble."

Not only that, but the last time they tried doing what Toph called _'borrowing money in secret'_ , they both were covered in mud, because she thought it would be a good idea to liquefy the ground to try and trap the Dai Li that were chasing after them, forgetting that they too were standing on that same ground. And it was damn hot, so they both were emitting a foul stench, but Toph didn't seem to mind—she was happy to bask in the Earth's filth—and she wrote Edward's whining off as overreacting.

"Yeah, yeah. Just tell me what we're gonna do this time," he said.

"There's a merchant that's supposedly ripping people off. He says he's selling native Fire Nation food, but it just looks that way. It's regular Earth Nation stuff," she explains, her monotonous tone only adding the growing feeling in Edward's gut that things won't go according to plan, like always. "Once the people pay for the food and taste it, they realise that it's not actually from the Fire Nation. They want their pieces back, but he refuses to give 'em a refund, because of lack of proof, or whatever."

"So we're gonna have a talk with this guy? And if he doesn't fess up, we take his pieces?" Edward asked, receiving a small nod in response. The plan seemed simple enough, but things always went wrong, and he had no idea how Toph was able to evade getting into trouble by now. He had a feeling she wasn't only using her _I'm-friends-with-the-Avatar_ card, but her _you-ever-heard-of-the-Beifongs_ card, too.

"Not his pieces, the _people's_ pieces," she corrected him. "And then we get some ourselves, for helping them out! Just like all the other times. I don't know why I have to keep on explaining this to you, Fancy Pants."

The rest of the walk was filled with mostly silence, save for Toph's obnoxious chewing and the chatter of other people who occupied the streets they were traveling on. It didn't take that long to get to the merchant's stand, thankfully, and Edward mentally gave the merchant a thumbs up for effort—the stand was beautifully decorated, and it could even be considered tolerable in the Upper Ring. It was decorated with dark colours, mostly of red hues, and the main focus were the snack-like foods in tiny red bags and boxes that were placed in the centre of the stand. This looked nothing like Earth Kingdom cuisine, and Edward wondered how the hell this guy was even pulling this off, as it looked like the real deal, at least to his eyes, since he's never even set foot out of Ba Sing Se before.

As they walked over to the stand, they realised that it must have been just opened by the merchant, as there weren't any customers waiting in line. Before the man could even inform them that his stand wasn't open, Toph had already made her presence known loud and clear as she grabbed one of the bags of what looked like the Fire Nation of candy, and brought her nose down to the bag to smell the contents inside. _Very smooth_.

The merchant turned to Toph, trying to put on the kindest smile he could manage. "Oh, I'm sorry, we won't be serving any customers until—"

"That's fine by us," she cut him off, placing the bag back down onto the stand. "We just want to ask you some questions, if you don't mind."

"Of course not. Is there something wrong? I have a permit, if that's what you're curious about…"

"Nope, that's not what we're here for," she waved her hand dismissively. She was a bit too confident and calm for someone who had done this many times before, since the result was always the same: they'd get caught, and have to run for it. "If you don't mind me askin', what's your name?"

"My name's Hakko, and this is my son, Gaan," the merchant said, pointing to the small boy behind him who was focused on the task of taking contents out of some dusty crates.

"Well, nice to meet ya, Hakko. My name's Weng, and this here is, uh…" Toph trailed off, scratching the back of her neck and trying to not make it obvious that she was coming up with some random name. It failed miserably, of course. It was clear as day that she was lying, but the merchant seemed to pay no mind. " _Kanto._ There's been some rumours floating around that the food here isn't up to standard, and there have been reported cases of food poisoning."

Now _that_ was a smart move. Instead of just being upfront and taking the guy's money like she usually would do, she decided to come up with a lie and make it harder to realise that they already knew of what the merchant was not so secretly doing.

"Has there really been such talk?" The merchant, Hakko, asked. "That is just nonsense. I would never sell my customers food that wasn't cooked to perfection, and I definitely would not sell my customers food that would harm them."

"Well, there is only one way for us to find out! Why don't you let us have a taste?" Toph grinned, and leaned up against the stand with her hands on her hips. It appeared as if she was trying to look… _friendly?_ Who knows. All Edward knew was that she was coming on a little too strong, and if the merchant was in fact selling Earth Nation food disguised as Fire Nation cuisine, then he wouldn't let them have a taste that easily.

"O-oh…I guess that would be the only way," Hakko said. The merchant's hands had begun to twitch slightly, and his eyes were darting to the path beside them that was empty—he was waiting for the perfect time to make a run for it, and it would be easy, too, as there were various nooks and crannies in the walls of Ba Sing Se he could navigate through to try and lose somebody. Edward had a feeling that the merchant had an escape route already memorised.

Just before Toph could open her mouth to reply, the merchant suddenly grabbed the bags of food and threw them onto Edward and Toph, dashing to the open path on their right and heading towards and alleyway. He was so close, and Edward gave him some credit; if it had been anybody other than Toph trailing after him, he probably would have made it, as he was pretty fast, but unfortunately for the merchant, Toph _was_ the one who was after him. And she only had to move slightly to stop him.

Flicking her arm up in one singular, effortless motion, she bended the ground beneath the merchant and moved it so it was blocking the path into the alleyway. He ran headfirst into the wall, and the sound of shock that left his mouth was like music to Toph's ears. She really enjoyed surprising people, if that wasn't obvious enough.

" _Ha!_ You really think you can run away from me?" Toph shouted as she walked up to the merchant who now lay sprawled out on the ground, a red mark forming on his forehead—Toph may as well have wrote _Toph Was Here_ on his forehead.

"W-what do you want?" Hakko asked, voice now frail and barely audible.

Toph brought her hand up to her forehead and began to scratch softly, "We want—no, we're gonna _get_ the money you scammed from all these people back." She knelt down next to his body and quickly reached into his pockets and pulled out some silver pieces. "Oh, and we also wanna see you tear this stand down. And we don't want to see you scamming people any more. You got that?"

Hakko just nodded slightly, still visibly in pain. Toph stood up and dusted her trousers off, slipping the silver pieces into her pocket, without offering some to Edward, _of course._

"Oh, and by the way, I'm Toph Beifong, the _strongest_ earthbender in the world. You better remember that name the next time you _even think of_ trying to do anythin' like this again!" She boasted, a wide smile on her face that was the epitome of arrogance.

"Wait, what about his son?" Edward asked, quickly wiping that smile off of her face.

" _Please_ , that's not his son," she said. "Kids join in on the scamming, too, you know."

He cocked his head to the side, "You speaking from experience?" His playful jab earned a punch right to the arm from Toph, and he tried his damned hardest to not make it obvious that it hurt. She was stronger than he'd like to admit—he'd lost many arm wrestling matches to know that her arrogance was not coming from nowhere.

* * *

As he was lounging on the couch, feet resting up on the wooden coffee table, he couldn't help but feel like something was missing. Shouldn't he be out of breath, and covered in dirt by now? It was quite strange, really. This was the first time he and Toph were not caught by the Dai Li, and they weren't even trying to be secretive this time.

He's definitely not wishing that the day had gone any different, though. He liked it better this way—without dirt, and without running around.

Toph came out of the kitchen with a plate of the Pau Buns she had bought on their way back (her stomach could never be satisfied), and her hair was not in her fancy bun like usual—it was left out and messy, and all over the place. It made Toph look…more _Toph_. Placing the plate on the table, she kicked Edward's feet to move them, and fell back onto the couch.

"What a day, huh?" She said, barely audible, as she had already placed two Pau Buns into her mouth.

"You disappointed we didn't get in any trouble?" Edward joked. His hand reached out for one of the Pau Buns and he was surprised that Toph didn't smack his hand away or scold him for trying to take _her_ food. She had actually been acting really…strange, today. She was more mellow than usual, and after they had come back to her place (although it technically could be considered _theirs_ by now), she wasn't teasing him like she usually did. She hadn't even called him Metal Boy for a couple hours.

He was looking at her intently, trying to analyse the pensive expression engraved onto her face, and he didn't realise he had stopped what he was doing and was staring at her until she spoke up.

"What are you lookin' at? Do I have something on my face?"

He quickly snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head. "No, it's just…" he trailed off, not really knowing how to explain to her that he was quite confused at her change in behaviour, as it would imply that she wasn't pleasant to be around—which isn't true, Edward enjoyed her company and her personality. "You just seem really calm for some reason."

"Well why I wouldn't I be? We just helped some people get their money back, and we also got money for helping them."

"I thought you just liked beating up the bad guys," Edward said, laughing softly to himself, but he quickly stopped once he saw the sour look on Toph's face. He tensed a bit, hoping that he didn't offend her, or gave her the idea that he genuinely thought of her as some brat. Well, she was, in a way, but so was he. And it was mostly banter on his side.

She turned slightly away from him and glanced at the ground. "That's…not the only reason I like doing this," she said, grabbing another Pau Bun from the plate and ripping it in half with her fingers.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah. You know, before I met you, I was kinda drifting from my friends," she started; Pau Buns still in her hand and eyes still glued to the floor. "I mean, we'll always have this special bond, and all—we _did_ save the world together, and that's pretty hard to forget—but we grew up. I thought we'd be with each other, every day, but I was just a kid when I thought like that."

Before he could butt in and attempt to console her, even though he was never really good at that, she kept on going. "Now Twinkle Toes and Sugar Queen are all lovey-dovey together, Sokka's got Suki, and Sparky is the Firelord now—a damn good Firelord—so he's busy all the time. I just…I miss it. I miss having 'em around."

The corners of her mouth rose slightly—she probably didn't even realise that she was doing it—and the pensive look that she had displayed beforehand was replaced with something more melancholic.

She took a small bite of the Pau Bun, but this time she waited until she finished chewing to start talking. "When we're together, it reminds me of the things that I really, _really_ liked when I was traveling with them."

He couldn't stop the wide smile forming on his face as he heard her say that. It felt…good. Nice. He always imagined he'd be alone in this world, and for the first year or so, he was always plagued with nightmares about what had happened, and what he had done. But then he found Iroh, and eventually Toph, and it made life easier— _better_ —for him.

"Yeah, I know how you feel," Edward said, exhaling loudly as he lifted up his feet on the coffee table, ignoring the fact that Toph absolutely hated when he did that. Her eyes widened at his statement. She had never expected that Edward would feel the same way. She knew that there was some sort of…friendship…between the two of them, but she had never bothered to think a bit deeper about it before. She really hoped that she wouldn't grow up, this time, because she didn't want to drift away from Edward, too.

"When we're together, it reminds me of all the times I spent with my brother. I miss it, too."

* * *

"Has everything been prepared?"

"Yes. We have all relocated to a safer location, and we have recruited more members then we had hoped for."

"Excellent," she said, smirking to herself as she pictured the image of her rise to power—and the fear in people's eyes as they saw her walk before them. She could already smell the victory. "You have done your job well, Chou. You will be rewarded once we succeed."

Chou bowed before her. "I have never doubted you, Princess."

 _"_ _Princess?"_ Her eyes narrowed at the lithe woman bowing for her in front of the bars, and she could feel the sparks caressing her fingertips—almost there, but not quite. "Do not be fooled by my brother playing dress up—he is not the true Firelord. That title belongs to me."

"Forgive me, Firelord Azula," Chou said, her voice betraying her calm composure. "I shall come visit you at the same time next week. Do you wish for me to send somebody to visit your father?"

Azula felt the sparks at her fingertips again, and her brows creased in annoyance. She had the urge to burn the restraints against her skin to a crisp, but it was not possible now, and it was not the time, either. "No, forget him." She closed her eyes and exhaled through her nose, trying to regain a calm sense of mind. "He couldn't do his job, and now we have to pick up all the pieces. He is useless to us now."

Chou stood up and bowed once more, pulling the black piece of cloth over her face. She quickly made her way out of the room, with quick feet yet a quiet pace. Once Azula knew she was far enough, she felt the fire inside her light up once again, and this time she let it consume her.

She couldn't move much, nor could she even bend, but she let out all the rage she was holding in with one shill scream. She couldn't wait to get out of these restraints, and she couldn't wait for the day when everyone, not just Chou, was bowing before her. The world would regret the day it stopped fearing fire—everybody would regret the day they forgot her name and stopped fearing _her._


End file.
